Key to Phils' season could be in Reading

Reading pitcher Doug Drabek, right, is averaging more than one strikeout per inning this season. He says he gets advice form his father, former Cy Young Award winner Doug Drabek.

TRENTON - The calendar is about to turn to July, and that means
it's baseball's trade season.

Who's a buyer? Who's a seller?

When it comes to the Phillies, naturally, they are looking to
upgrade. Philadelphia has looked for pitching since the staff has
been devastated by injuries.

However, getting a player means giving someone up.

Last year, when the Phillies got Joe Blanton from the Oakland
Athletics, they gave up one of their top prospects in Adrian
Cardenas. The second baseman was considered the second-best
prospect in the organization, according to Baseball America, which
ranks prospects across the league.

This year, the Phillies' minor-league system is loaded with
pitching prospects, including several at double-A Reading (Pa.).
Seven of Baseball America's top 30 Phillies prospects from before
the season are in Reading, including five pitchers.

"The guys are going to do whatever it takes to get to the big
club," Reading manager Steve Roadcap said. "The players understand
it's out of their control. You just go out there and play the best
you can."

But not all of Reading's trade bait is pitching. Michael Taylor
is an imposing outfielder. The 23-year-old is 6-foot-6, 250 pounds
and one of the best power hitters in the system with 14 homers in
72 games.

If the Phillies want to acquire a high-end pitcher, he's the
exact type of guy they likely would dangle.

Over a four-game set against Trenton (the Yankees' double-A
team), Taylor went 9-for-16, including a towering home run on
Sunday that many were still talking about Monday afternoon.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about (being traded)
sometimes," said Taylor, 23, the sixth-ranked prospect in the
organization by Baseball America. "The Phillies are looking (at)
getting more pitching, so people keep asking me about it like my
friends and family.

"It doesn't change anything. I still have to go out there and
play. It's like everything else. You just have to play."

Scouts are at every game. They have been there all season.

"You can pick out the scouts sometimes (before games)," Roadcap
said. "But when the game starts, I think there are more than the
ones I saw."

Of the pitchers, righty Kyle Drabek and lefty Joe Savery are
high on everyone's want list. Drabek, 21, has a 2.46 ERA between
Reading and Clearwater this year. He has struck out 74 in 61
innings.

Savery, 23, became the Eastern League's first 10-game winner
Monday. He gave up two hits and four walks in six innings against
some of the Yankees' best minor-league talent. Taylor went 4-for-5
as the Phillies won 12-2.

Savery, Taylor, third baseman Neil Sellers and pitcher Vance
Worley will represent Reading in the Eastern League All-Star Game
oJuly 15 in Trenton.

Drabek said his father, former Cy Young Award winner Doug
Drabek, has helped him deal with being possible trade bait.

"My dad told me not to worry about all the other stuff and to
just pitch," Drabek said. "He helps a lot. I can call him and talk
about my outings with him."

Drabek talked to his father about the outside parts of the game,
as well - the things that can happen once a player isn't between
the lines.

The advice was simple for Drabek, a cool, laid-back righty from
Houston. So, he walks around the clubhouse with a smile and a joke
at the ready, and pitches when he needs to.

"I can't imagine there being anything better than this," Drabek
said. "This is the best thing in the world."

There's no telling how the Reading roster is going to change in
a month.

Philadelphia could give up some of Reading's best players to get
a front-end-of-the-rotation starter, a guy to complement Cole
Hamels. Or, it could stand pat and, literally, not give up the farm
in a trade.

For the next month, any of these guys could be on the move. They
can only wait.

"I've seen some good guys go, but more guys just come," Taylor
said. "Some guys get released and some guys move up. It comes with
the territory."